Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) walked CNN's Erin Burnett through what happened to him on Thursday, when federal agents tackled and handcuffed him for trying to ask a question of Trump administration Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the military deployment to Los Angeles against protesters.
"So here's what happened," said Padilla. "I'm in the conference room a couple doors down, awaiting this briefing with representatives of Northern Command. We learn almost on the spot that there's this press conference going on down the hall. Now, my briefing is delayed because of the folks in that press conference. From the moment I entered the building, I'm being escorted by a member of the National Guard and an FBI agent. I asked, 'Well, since we're waiting, can we go listen in to the press conference?' They escort me over to the press conference. They opened the door for me."
"I'm standing in the back, behind the reporters, behind the cameras, just listening in, and at one point, the rhetoric, the rhetoric just got to be too much," said Padilla, singling out in particular Noem's remark that the administration will "liberate" Los Angeles from Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass. "It was just too much. And so, yes, I said who I was. I began to ask a question, and it was maybe half a second later before there were multiple agents on me."
"They shoved me outside," he continued. "I was trying to both get my question out and not lose my balance. You know, one is telling me, get down on my knees and the other one's pushing me in a different direction. There was no resistance to the contrary. I kept asking, 'Why am I being detained?' 'Get down on your knees' turns into 'flat on the floor.' I'm trying, but I'm being pushed and pulled in different directions. And finally, down on the floor, they handcuff me multiple times. 'Why am I being detained?' No response, no response, no response. Finally, minutes later, I guess somebody around the secretary realizes this is the United States senator, and they come running down the hall and finally say, let him go."
Padilla then offered words of warning: "If it can happen to me in that setting, imagine what they're doing to people all around the country."
"And let me also underscore this," he added. "It's not just about immigrants' rights, which so many peaceful protesters are shouting about in Los Angeles. It's about all of our rights. The reason this crisis, this spectacle, has been created by the Trump administration this week is because of all the bad headlines of recent weeks, right? Their budget bill is being exposed for what it is, gutting health care, gutting the social safety net to underwrite tax breaks for the rich. He certainly hasn't brought peace between Russia and Ukraine. He's losing every other day in court. He's broken up with his BFF Elon Musk. So what does he do? He distracts and he scapegoats and demonizes immigrants."
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